SAF troops harder to spot with new camouflage fatigues

By Jermyn Chow, The Straits Times, 6 Jul 2012

THE Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) has declared the digital camouflage print of its uniforms effective in making its troops harder to spot - be they in the jungle, on ships or in the airbase.

The effectiveness of the pixelated print for the uniforms has been proven in extensive tests and field trials, it said.

The land troops got their new green fatigues in 2008; air force and navy personnel started getting blue and grey versions last month, and debuted these at the SAF Day Parade on Sunday.

The SAF was responding to queries from The Straits Times in the wake of news last week that the US Army is said to be ditching its grey-green digital camouflage, known as the Universal Camouflage Pattern, for a greenish, blended one called MultiCam. At the moment, only its troops in Afghanistan are togged in MultiCam.

The US Army introduced its grey-green pixelated fatigues in 2004 at a cost of US$5 billion. It has since realised the pattern is not giving its troops good cover in Afghanistan, the American online newspaper The Daily reported, citing sources.

SAF Brigadier-General Chia Choon Hoong, commander of the 9th Division and Chief Infantry Officer, said that when the pixelated fatigues were developed, several versions were made, tested and compared.

'The shape, pattern and colours of the pixels were designed for our specific operating environment,' he said.

He explained that the army's green pixelated uniforms, commonly called the No. 4, is optimised for a vegetated environment; the air force's blue one and the navy's grey one are designed to blend into airbase installations and ships respectively.

A desert camouflage in sandy beige has also been designed for SAF troops in Afghanistan, said BG Chia.

The Straits Times understands that the SAF is not about to relook using its digital camouflage following news of the reported change in the US, but BG Chia said the SAF 'will continue to review and improve the design of its uniforms to ensure that they remain relevant and effective'.

The current digital camouflage replaced uniforms which featured interlocking splotches of black, brown and green.

A team from the army and the Defence Science and Technology Agency had studied colours and pixel patterns for more than a year, and used computers to simulate various light conditions on each proposed design sample.

The pixelated pattern chosen has 'visual noise' which makes it harder for a soldier to be spotted at distances of 50m or less, said researchers.

Defence analyst Tim Huxley pointed out that although the concept of pixelated fatigues may be similar, the grey-green uniforms of the US differ from Singapore's greenish ones.

'We shouldn't assume that if there's a problem with the US Army's uniforms, the SAF will have the same problem,' said Dr Huxley, the executive director of IISS-Asia.

The combat environments soldiers from the two countries work in are also quite different, he added.

He also said that future reviews on uniforms will have to look into adapting them for combat in urban areas, where future conflicts will take place.

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